Monday 24th September 2007
Springbok centre Frans Steyn has been cited for an alleged bite on an opponent during South Africa's 30-25 World Cup Pool A win over Tonga at Stade Felix Bollaert, in Lens, at the weekend. He will appear at a hearing in Paris on Tuesday morning.
Steyn has been cited following an altercation between himself and Tongan wing Joseph Vaka in the 63rd minute of the encounter. Both were yellow carded by referee Wayne Barnes of England.
Vaka claimed at the time that he had been bitten on the finger by Steyn.
However, the 20-year-old Bok back has protested his innocence.
The Springbok team management, who are still fuming over the inconsistencies in the entire citing and judicial process at the World Cup that resulted in a two-match ban (reduced from four matches) for flank Schalk Burger, have indicated that they will plead "not guilty".
The Bok management had to fly in their own equipment during their defence of Burger, after the International Rugby Board (IRB) equipment at the global showpiece was found to be insufficient.
But having managed to get Burger's ban reduced from four weeks to just two - which will see him return for the final pool match against the United States in Montpellier on Sunday - they were astounded to find that Samoan hit-man Brian Lima was let off scot-free following a deliberate late and high hit on Bok fly-half André Pretorius.
Other judicial inconsistencies that have raised the eyebrows at the World Cup was the decision to ban US Eagles centre Paul Emerick for five weeks for a spear tackle, but did not even cite Australian back Drew Mitchell who executed an exact replica of Emerick's tackle on an opponent.
What has also angered the South African camp is that the citing officers have waited till the very last minute, just before the 48 hour citing window closed, before bringing forward the charges. In other cases the citings were done within the first 24 hours.
The conspiracy theories have been running rife in South African rugby since the Burger incident and have again been fuelled by the timing of the latest citing on a Bok.
Steyn has also spoken out against the allegation that he had bitten Vaka.
"That guy [Vaka] said I tried to bite him. That's not how I play the game," the versatile young Springbok told the South African media in France.
"I was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time. I should never have got involved.
"I tried to break up a skirmish between [Bok lock] Bakkies [Botha] and a Tongan. Then Vaka came in and threw me to the ground. So I picked him up and threw him down as well."
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